A majority of U.S. consumers who don't yet own a tablet still say they won't buy one this year. And most of them say it's because they're happy with their PC or laptop.
- Roughly 53% of consumers who don't already own a tablet reported that they will not be buying a tablet in the next 12 months, according to a new Kantar Worldpanel ComTech survey.
- Another 34% responded that they were unsure if they would be buying a tablet. Among consumers who were unsure whether they wanted to buy a tablet or not, 47% claimed tablet prices were too high.
- Only 13% of those consumers who don't already own a tablet said they would buy one this year.
- Among respondents with no plans to buy a tablet, a whopping 72% claimed that they were happy with their current laptop or PC, while 42% also said they were simply not interested in a tablet.
That last statistic is the most telling, and it indicates that tablet vendors have failed to drive home the message of what the tablet's true value is.
Most tablet-averse consumers likely look at tablets as expensive entertainment devices that are supremely lacking in productivity capabilities compared to PCs.
But it's not just PCs that are taking away from the value of the tablet.
Advancements in smartphone screen size and quality are making the tablet less attractive as an entertainment device. Why would consumers pay a few hundreds dollars for an extra, only slightly bigger device when they likely already have a perfectly good smartphone in their pocket?
One of our mobile predictions for 2014 was that more tablet-friendly productivity software would become available, making the tablet a more respectable productivity tool. With Microsoft launching Office for iPad this week, and Google building a full-fledged enterprise suite of apps for Android, expect the tablet's value to consumers and businesses to rise soon.
Click here to download the charts and data in Excel
Here is a look at some of the biggest reasons why consumers will not be buying a tablet over the next 12 months.
